When the Hero Is Not the Good Guy

We were taught that heroes are people who do right, who save others from themselves, who kill and fight the darkness and know when to do what is right. Then it started happening that the people who are heroes, lied, cheated, harmed, stole, and made bad decisions. But somehow, we have started liking these people. In this new genre of the anti-hero, the audience finds more relatability as the writers create a space where the protagonist is not necessarily a good person.

Goodbye to Perfect Heroes

Traditional heroes are usually written to have simple motives, clear-cut goals, and are generally likeable persons who eventually triumph over evil. Good examples of this genre include the "Superman." But anti-heroes are not found in the traditional comic books. They take centre stage in movies such as Breaking Bad, where Walter White transforms from a meek high school teacher to a manipulative drug lord.

It is a characteristic of an anti-hero to have ambiguous motives, be self-centred, and perform abhorrent acts. These types of personalities are not very common in real life, but we find them interesting, and we keep watching.

Why Do We Still Root for Them?

The problem with real heroes is that they are not real! They do not exist in reality, and that is the primary reason why we do not have a great number of heroic political leaders, bosses, partners, or friends.

Everyone has at least a shred of an anti-hero in them. We can all confess to doing bad things to people and even ourselves, thinking that the end justifies the means. We find anti-heroes interesting because they are flawed, like us. But we do not relate to them because they are too bad. It is one of the most intriguing things about anti-heroes; we can sympathize with them without meaning to.

We are fascinated by the complexity of their personality. While they should not be liked, they are always pardoned. When an anti-hero does bad things, we are not surprised. But when they surprise us by doing the right thing, we are delighted and always find ourselves asking the wrong questions.

Examples of anti-heroes in Indian movies span across various filmi industries, portraying a spectrum of vices, which we can relate to in real life. Whether it is vengeance, ego, pride, jealousy, ambition, or commitment, these vices have been used to create some of the most fascinating movie personalities.

The Characters Who Make Us Question Ourselves

The most intriguing thing about the anti-hero trend is that it appears to indicate a shift in audience tastes. People are becoming more interested in seeing persons with mixed personalities onscreen. Sure, we all enjoy the traditional hero, but they are becoming less common, perhaps because they seem less realistic.

We can all identify with someone like Walter White. Would we have acted differently in the same circumstances? Would we have forgiven him? Where exactly is the line between forgiveness and justification? The anti-hero provides us with an opportunity to ponder that. Maybe that is why the anti-hero continues to captivate us so.

The hero is not always a person who does the right thing; sometimes, it is a person who does the wrong thing, but we continue to follow his or her journey. After all, there is nothing more fascinating than the journey of a character who represents us in ways that we never expected. Because somewhere in between the hero and the villain is a shade of grey, and we can all relate to that.